Archie and Valerie to tie the knot

Over the past few years, Archie Comics has become one of the most socially progressive comic book publishers, with genuinely solid storytelling that's been pushing the boundaries of what they've done with their formula in the 70 years since the freckle-faced teenager made his debut.

In the upcoming Archie #633, they'll tell the story of a future where Archie marries Valerie Smith (of Josie and the Pussycats fame) and they have a daughter.

It won't be the first time that Archie has portrayed an interracial marriage in their comics.

Valerie and Archie's romance, however,
is something different. They're two established, high-profile
characters, one of which has been a fixture in Archie's media efforts
and another that the actual company's named after - coming together in
something that you just wouldn't have seen from those characters, even
five years ago.

- pinkisthenewblog.com

The 'addicted' brain

Abnormalities in the brain may make some people more likely to become drug addicts, according to scientists at the University of Cambridge.

They found the same differences in the brains of addicts and their non-addicted brothers and sisters.

The study, published in the journal Science, suggested addiction is in part a 'disorder of the brain'.

Other experts said the nonaddicted siblings offered hope of new ways of teaching addicts 'self-control'.

Experts were unsure whether drugs changed the wiring of the brain or if drug addicts' brains were wired differently in the first place. - bbc.co.uk

A costly brew

The mountains of Sichuan Province in southwestern China will soon yield a new and different product: namely, the world's most expensive tea.

This new tea has no secrets. Its main ingredient, panda poo, is the reason it is so costly, selling at £50,000 (more than US$77,000) per kilo.

Chinese entrepreneur Yanshi An left his job as a teacher of calligraphy at Sichuan University to pursue his dream of fertilising his lucrative tea-crop. - weirdasianews.com